OPUWO: At least 30 football teams are expected to participate in the Opuwo Sports Festival here this weekend.
An amount of N.dollars 20 000 was made available by the OK Grocer here for the football tournament that coincides with the eighth birthday of the grocery shop.
According to Steven Nomchab, organiser of the tournament, the launch and draw of the tournament will take place on 22 August in Opuwo.
Each football team is expected to register with N.dollars 700 to take part in the tournament.
The winning team of the tournament will walk away with N.dollars 10 000, a trophy and gold medals, while the runner-up will pocket N.dollars 5 000 and silver medals, and the team that wins third place will be awarded with N.dollars 3 500 and bronze medals.
The fourth-placed team will get N.dollars 1 500.
“We had 36 teams that participated in the tournament last year from all over the country. Some came from Omusati and Otjozondjupa, and the majority from the Kunene Region,” said Nomchab.
He said they want to keep the number at 30 to allow the games to finish in time. However, organisers will not turn away teams that register before the closing date on 22 August this year.
The games will be played on a knock-out basis.
The Otuvero Football Club (FC) won last year’s tournament after they defeated Opuwo United FC.
According to Karii Muhenje, a member of the organising committee of the Opuwo Sports Festival, only two teams have thus far registered for the football tournament.
He said the OK Grocer’s birthday is actually in October, but will take place in advance to take advantage of the August long weekend.
The Opuwo Sports Festival was started in 2011 with sport codes such as football, netball and marathon. This year boxing has been added.
The event is funded by OK Grocer Opuwo, Kaokoland Butchery and Coffee Shop, and the Kunene Pharmacy.
The boxing event is sponsored by the Nestor Tobias Sunshine Boxing Academy as part of its boxing development programme and annual road show outreach programme that takes place in the Kunene Region this year.